The Red Hunter

February 13, 2017
One of the two deftly interwoven plot lines of this heart-stopping thriller from bestseller Unger (In the Blood) centers on Manhattan martial arts expert Zoe Drake. A decade after the horrific never-solved home invasion that left her parents dead and that she barely survived, Zoe craves answers—and revenge. The other concerns divorced domestic blogger Claudia Bishop and her defiant teenage daughter, Raven, who has been pressing for a paternity test to see whether she’s the product of the violent rape that shattered her parents’ marriage. Unknown to Claudia and Raven, they have a dangerous link to Zoe: the ramshackle New Jersey farmhouse whose renovation is the focus of Claudia’s blog was the site of Zoe’s nightmare. And, according to urban legend, it may still contain $1 million stolen from a local drug dealer shortly before the slaughter. Unger raises the suspense by letting the reader in on some secrets before her characters (while keeping a few shockers up her sleeve). Her theme of empowerment concerning identity and self-determination will resonate with many. Agent: Elaine Markson, Markson Thoma Literary Agency.

Starred review from June 5, 2017
A creaky old New Jersey farmhouse is the meeting place for Unger’s two cleverly interwoven plotlines. One involves new owner Claudia Bishop, a single mother who blogs about the farmhouse’s renovation while caring for her troubled teenage daughter, Raven. Plot two follows Zoey Drake, the vengeance-motivated hunter of the title, who’s planning to use her deadly martial arts expertise on the home invaders who murdered her parents and tortured her a decade ago when they lived in the farmhouse. The killers didn’t find any loot, but circumstances convince them it’s time to give the property one more search. Unger’s prose is fast-paced, and actor Whelan imbues Zoey’s revenge-charged chapters with passion and brings out the drama in the lives of Claudia and Raven and the suspenseful narrative following the killers as they make their move on the farmhouse. With her portrayals of gruff-voiced villains, defiant teens, and the determined Claudia, Whelan adds to the author’s creations. A Touchstone hardcover.

February 15, 2017
Two women whose lives are connected by a deadly old house embark on a collision course in Unger's latest thriller.Claudia Bishop's daughter, Raven, hates her new home. The 15-year-old, who's picked on at school because she's both new and impossibly beautiful, longs for her old life in Manhattan while her mother sets about renovating a beat-up farmhouse in rural New Jersey and starting a blog about it. A single mother, Claudia left her husband, Ayers, years ago; their marriage fell apart after she was brutally raped by a stranger who broke into their apartment, and Claudia found out she was pregnant soon afterward. Claudia raised Raven with full knowledge of the rape that may--or may not--have produced her, and Raven is now considering a paternity test to determine whether Ayers or her mother's rapist is her biological father. Meanwhile, in New York, martial artist Zoey hunts the men who killed her parents and tried to kill her when she was a young teenager. When Josh Beckham, a handyman who lives near Claudia, is brought in to fix some things and Zoey finds one of the men who killed her parents, the women find themselves tied to one another by the home in which Claudia now lives. Unger plots an intricate story with multiple points of view and converging storylines. With plenty of action and a brisk pace, the author manages to keep all the balls in the air even when the dizzying slate of characters overlaps and things occasionally become confusing. The convoluted story is absorbing, and Unger introduces intriguing characters (although Raven comes across as relentlessly selfish and Claudia is a milquetoast mother). However, the book holds its own until the final resolution, which feels both rushed and tacked on as a means to resolve all the collective mysteries and loose ends kicked up in the story. All twisty and turny and the things this genre should be, but the ending's entirely predictable.

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November 15, 2016
Claudia Bishop remains anxious after a brutal assault but tries to cope by throwing herself into the restoration of a sagging house. Zoey Drake has embraced martial arts as a means of confronting a childhood horror--her parents' murder during the invasion of the very home Claudia is restoring. A stand-alone from the New York Times best-selling author.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2017
Ten years ago, Zoey Drake's parents were murdered in a home invasion at their remote New Jersey farmhouse. Now, Claudia Bishop and her teenage daughter, Raven, have moved into the long-abandoned farmhouse to launch a blog documenting Claudia's DIY restoration efforts. The project holds deeper meaning for Claudia, who sees it as the next phase of recovery from her brutal rape 16 years ago. Weeks later, however, the house still feels like a decrepit monster, and unsettling prowling incidents take a more ominous light when police inform her of the farm's past. Zoey, now a martial-arts instructor in New York, hunts the men who murdered her parents, hoping retribution will bring her peace. When Rhett Beckham is released from prison and returns for the money he didn't find during the robbery, only Claudia and Zoey stand in his way. Unger's knack for blending encroaching danger with complex relationship themes is as sharp as ever here, as she creates characters facing the tangle of betrayals and mistakes that have shaped their identities. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A regular resident on the New York Times best-seller list, Unger has sold more than two million copies of her novels, which have been translated into 26 languages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)